Air turbine propelled toy phonograph



May l21, 1968v w. R. ALLEN v 3,384,378

AIR TURBINE PROPELLED TOY PHONOVGRFH v 2 sheetshee't 1 Filed Feb. 15, 1967 May 2l, 1968 w. R. ALLEN 3,384,378

AIR TURBINE PROPELLED TOY PHONOGRAPH Filed Feb. l5, 1967 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVEA/rop.

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United States Patent O 3,384,378 AIR TURBINE PROPELLED TOY PHONOGRAPH William R. Allen, 2029 N. Kenmore Ave., Los Angeles, Calif. 90027 Filed Feb. 15, 1967, Ser. No. 616,398 10 Claims. (Cl. 274-1) ABSTRACT F THE DISCLGSURE A toy phonograph including a breath propelled, turbine driven, record supporting 'and playing unit capable of being installed in casings of varying exterior configuration.

This invention embodies improvements over the structure disclosed in the co-pending application of the present applicant, Ser. No. 390,102, filed Aug. 17, 1964, now Patent No. 3,315,966.

This invention relates to sound producing toys.

The only comparable device known to applicant is that which is disclosed in the said co-pending application. That device comprises a toy phonograph actuated by the breath of the user, but in which the driving turbine and the record turntable are separately mounted on one part of a two-part casing or housing and the sound reproducing means constitutes a third component separately mounted on the other part of the casing.

The objectives of the present invention are to provide an improved toy of the general character of that disclosed in the said co-pending application, the improvements including (a) a substantial reduction in the number of component parts without loss of the functions of the eliminated parts., and (b) the formation of the record supporting and playing means into a single unit installable as such in casings of varying exterior configuration.

With the foregoing specific objects in view, together with such additional objects and advantages as may subsequently appear, the invention resides in the parts and in the construction, the combination, and the arrangement of parts described, by way of example, in the following specications of a presently preferred embodiment of the invention, .reference being had to the accompanying drawings which form a part of said specification and in which drawings:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a representative rectangular case in which the phonograph unit of the present invention may be installed,

FIG. 1a is a reduced scale, perspective view of another type of case in which the phonograph unit may be installed,

FIG. 2 is an enlarged scale, top plan view of the bottom portion of the case shown in FIG. 1 as viewed on the plane of the line 2-2 of FIG. 1 with the phonograph unit of the present invention installed therein, certain portions of the unit being broken `away to disclose details of construction,

FIG. 3 is a transverse sectional view `as taken on the line 3-3 of FIG. 2, the phonograph unit being shown in full lines,

FIGS. 4, 4a, and 4b, are, respectively, fragmentary sectional views taken on the lines 4-4, 4a-4a and 4b4b on FIG. 2 showing details of construction of the diaphragm component,

FIG. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary section taken on the line 5-5 of FIG. 2 showing details of a latch means for holding the casing components together,

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the unit in operating position,

FIG. 7 is Ia perspective view of the unit showing the mode of removal of the stylus and diaphragm component for removal and replacement of a record,

ice

FIG. 8 is a greatly enlarged sectional view taken on the line 8-3 of FIG. 6,

FIG. 9 is an exploded view of the component parts of the phonograph unit, and

FIG. 10 is a bottom plan view of the air turbine impeller component.

Referring to the drawings, FIG. 1 shows a representative case 1 in which the phonograph unit of the invention may be installed, said case comprising a bottom portion 2 having a tubular mouthpiece 3 projecting from one side face thereof and a removable top portion or cover 4 having a series of openings 5 through the top surface thereof for the escape of sound waves generated by the phonograph unit. Any suitable means for releasably interfitting and interlocking the top and bottom portions together may be employed as, for example, corner locating lugs 6 on the top portion depending from the inner surface thereof and engaging the complementary inner corners of the bottom portion, and latch elements 7 similarly depending from the inner surface of opposite side portions of the top portion of the case and engaging complementary lug components 8 formed integrally on the inner face of the bottom portion as shown in FIG. 5. The case top and bottom portions are preferably formed of molded plastic having suicient resilience to permit the side walls to yield laterally incident to lat-ching the portions together and to permit one latch carrying side wall of the top portion to be sprung inwardly sufficient to effect disengagement of the latch on that side of the case.

FIG. 1a illustrates the fact that the invention is not confined to use with a rectangular case but may be employed in a case structure having desired ornamental eX- terior configuration as, for example, a somewhat grotesque representation of a pig 9 and including top and bottom portions 10 and 11 which may be interlocked in any suitable manner as, for example, the general arrangement shown in FIG. 1. As in the casing 1, the bottom portion 11 will be provided with a tubular mouthpiece 12.

The phonograph unit as an assembly is generally indicated at and includes as its principal components, a frame structure comprising a base Z1 and a cover 22, said frame structure supporting the other components including an air turbine wheel 23, a record supporting turntable means 24, a sound reproducing diaphragm and stylus assembly 25, and a pivotal mounting means 26 for the diaphragm and stylus assembly 25.

The base component 21 is formed of a plastic molding and includes a fiat bottom Wall 27 of substantially oval configuration in plan. Rising from one end of said bottom wall is a ycircular side wall 28 which is interrupted at one side edge of the base by a portion of an air inlet port designated as 29a. At the center of the circular area of the bottom wall 27 defined by the circular wall 28, a threaded bore 30 extends through the bottom wall and through a boss 31 on the under side of the bottom wall. Additionally, adjacent the end of the bottom wall circumscribed by the circular wall 2S it is provided with an opening 32 which serves as an outlet port as will presently be described.

The cover component 22 is also formed as a plastic molding and is only slightly larger in diameter than the outside diameter of the side wall 28 and is provided with a depending skirt 33 which forms a close t over the upper outer surface of the side wall 28 and, in the assembly of the device, is cemented thereto. The outer surface of the cover 22 at its center line about which the skirt 33 is generated is provided with a hollow boss 34 which serves as a gear housing for a purpose presently to be described, said hollow boss being surmounted by a smaller coaxially disposed boss 35 in which a metal pin 36 is fixedly secured, said metal pin having a concave end surface at the end thereof adjacent to the hollow boss 34 and said concave end face is serving as a bearing means as will presently be described. The cover is preferably reinforced by integrally formed radial ribs 37 extending from the boss 34 to the periphery of the cover and sloping from the height of the boss 34 to the plane of the cover surface at its periphery.

The circular side wall 28 and the portion of the bottom Wall 27 circumscribed thereby together with the cover 22 defines a turbine chamber for the turbine wheel 23. The turbine wheel 23 is formed of a plastic molding and includes a hub portion 38 having axially disposed needle point bearing members 39 and 39' at the upper and lower ends thereof respectively, the needle point bearing member 39 being engageable with the concave end of the bearing member 36 and the needle point 39 being engageable with the concave end of a setscrew 30 threadedly engaging the threaded bore 30 in the wall 27 so that the turbine wheel is mounted in the cavity and on virtually frictionless resistance to rotation afforded by the said needle point bearing mounting thereof, the screw 30' affording adjusting means to afford freedom of rotation with a minimum of end play. The hub 38 carries an integrally formed disk-like portion 40 extending almost to the side wall 28 and so disposed on the hub 38 that it is closely adjacent to the under side of the cover 22. Inwardly from its peripheral edge, the portion 46 carries an integrally formed depending circular wall portion 41 which extends almost to the upper surface of the bottom wall 27 and the annular space delined by the outer surface of the wall portion 41 and the adjacent under side of the disk portion 40 is formed with a plurality of radially extending vane elements 42. The portion of the hub extending above the disk-like portion 40 extends into the hollow boss 34 and is provided with gear teeth Which form this portion of the hub into a driving pinion 43. The pinion teeth mesh with teeth 44 on the periphery of the turntable component 24, a portion of the sidewall of the boss 34 being cut away as at 45 for the interengagement of the teeth 44 with the pinion portion 43.

At a point in its circumference which is opposite the inlet opening 29 in the wall 28, the skirt portion 33 of the cover is interrupted by the complementary portion 29h of said inlet opening, said inlet opening portions combining to form a circular inlet opening extending generally tangentially to the circumference of the impeller 23 and having vanes or louvers 46 therein, and the outer end of said opening being slightly counterbored as at 47 to receive the end of the mouthpiece tube 3 or its equivalent 12. The exhaust opening 32 is disposed a short distance beyond the inlet opening and is placed in communication with the exterior of the case by means presently to be described. For the moment, it is sufficient to point out that blowing through the tube 3 will cause the impeller 23 to rotate in a counterclockwise direction as viewed in FIGS. 2, 6 and 7 with resultant rotation of the turntable 24 in a clockwise direction.

The turntable component 24 is a plastic molding and comprises a large diameter gear having the teeth 44 forming its periphery. The upper face of the gear forms the record turntable and at the center thereof is an integrally formed short, non-circular post 48 adapted to engage a correspondingly shaped hole in the center of a record R placed thereon and thus effect the positive rotation of the record with the turntable.

The bottom wall 27 of the base component 21 includes a portion 49 which projects laterally beyond the circular wall 28 at the side thereof which is below the turntable gear 24, said portion 49 having a boss 50 formed in axial alignment with the axis of the turntable gear 24. A needle point axle pin projects upwardly from said lboss to a point slightly below the lower face of the turntable gear 24, which must be disposed above the top face of the cover component 22 in order to mesh with the pinion 43. The turntable gear is formed with an integral hub 52 which extends almost to the top face of the boss 50 and disposed in said hub is an elongated bearing bushing 53 having a free running but closely fitting engagement with the periphery of the axle pin 51 and which terminates in a concave end face engaging the needle point end of the axle pin so that the rotation of the turntable is as frictionless as is reasonably practicable with a minimum of lateral rocking.

The sound reproducing means 25 comprises a diaphragm 54 of shallow inverted conical configuration having a stylus 5S projecting downwardly from the apex thereof at a slight angle upwardly and rearwardly substantially in a vertical plane tangential to the record groove at the point of contact of the record by the point of the stylus. The stylus may comprise a conventional phonograph needle extending part way through the diaphragm and secured therein at the desired angular position by a body of adhesive surrounding the stylus at the upper surface of the diaphragm. The periphery of the diaphragm 54 is seated in a ring 56 formed of a plastic molding, said ring having an inwardly projecting ledge 57 at the upper portion thereof forming a shoulder against which the end of the diaphragm is seated. Any suitable means may be employed to secure the diaphragm in the ring of which the most practical is the application of a few (two is sufficient) spots of an adhesive contacting both the lower face of the diaphragm at the peripheral edge thereof and the adjacent surface of the ring as indicated at 58, 58 in FIG. 7. At one point in its periphery, the ring 56 is provided with a pair of bearing lugs 59, 59 having axially aligned axle pin receiving holes therein by which the sound producing means or component is mounted on its supporting means 26.

The mounting means for the sound reproducing diaphragm and stylus comprises ar vertical spindle 61 having a reduced diameter lower end 62 journaled in the bracket 63 projecting from the rear `face of the circular wall 28, considering the portion of the side wall viewed from the side toward which the mouthpiece 3 extends as the front face. The upper end 64 of the spindle element 61 is also a reduced diameter and is correspondingly pivotally mounted in a bracket arm 65 formed integrally with the cover component 22 and having a spindle end receiving hole axially aligned with the corresponding hole in the bracket 63, the said reduced diameter end portions forming shoulders which engage, respectively, the upper face of the bracket 63 and the lower face of the bracket arm 65 and said faces being spaced apart a distance only slightly greater than the distance between said shoulders, whereby the spindle is journaled in said brackets with only a limited amount of end play when the cover and base component are assembled and cemented together. Thus the frame structure serves the additional purpose of securing a relatively movable portion of the sound reproducing means in assembly therewith as an incident to securing the base and cover component together at the same time as said assembly of those components serves to mount the impeller 23 in the cavity therefor.

The spindle 61, slightly below the under face of the bracket 65, is provided with an integrally formed, radially extending bracket arm 66 which is disposed above the plane of the top surface of the record R and which terminates in spaced, upwardly extending bearing lugs 67, 67 which closely tit between the bearing lugs 59, 59 and serve with the hinge pin 68 extending therethrough to provide a horizontal axis pivoted bearing means for the sound reproducing component 25. Thus this component is mounted for free swinging movement both about the vertical axis of the spindle 61 and the horizontal axis of the hinge or axle pin 68.

Preferably, this unit is mounted in a casing of desired exterior configuration by being glued or cemented in place. For example, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the inner bottom surface of the casing may be provided with a series of rib members 71 extending transversely thereof, the rib members being of such height as to afford clearance for the boss 31 and the under surface of the base component 21 is adhesively secured to the upper faces of these ribs. At the point of the exhaust opening 32 in the bottom wall 1, the casing may be formed with a generally oval-shaped rib 72 somewhat greater in extent than the exhaust opening 32 and terminating in an exhaust opening 73 through the bottom wall of the casing, the said rib 72 combining with the under side of the base component to form a passage connecting the exhaust openings 32 and 73.

Thus there has been provided a toy phonograph of simple construction and including a record playing means which, as a unit, is capable of being incorporated in casings which may be of simple geometric coniiguration or of any fanciful or ornate conguration and while a presently preferred embodiment of the invention has been disclosed by way of example in the foregoing specification, the invention is not to be deemed to be limited to the precise details of construction so disclosed and it will `be understood that the invention includes as well, all such modifications and chan-ges in the parts, and in the construction, combination and arrangement of parts as shall come within the purview of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a toy phonograph, a frame structure comprising a base component including a bottom wall portion and a circular side wall portion formed integrally therewith and a cover having interfitting engagement with said side wall portion and combining with said base portion and said side wall portion to define a housing, a rotatable, radially vaned impeller contained in said housing, bearing means carried by said base and said cover on which said impeiler is mounted for rotation, an inlet port in said side wall disposed generally tangentially to the periphery of said impeller, an outlet port in said bottom wall adjacent to the path of travel of the periphery of said impeller, a pinion formed integrally with said impeller and disposed adjacent to the impeller 4bearing means in said cover component, a record supporting turntable mounted for rotation on said base component exteriorly of said side Wall and comprising a gear having peripheral teeth operatively engaging the teeth of said pinion, record engaging means on said turntable for preventing relative rotative movement of a record thereon, and a sound reproducing appratus including a record groove engaging stylus mounted on said frame structure.

2. A toy phonograph device as claimed in claim 1 including means for mounting said sound reproducing apparatus comprising a vertically disposed oscillatable spindle having bearing means at each end thereof engaging complementary bearing components on said base and said cover, respectively.

3. A toy phonograph device as claimed in claim 1 in which said inlet port is formed by complementary portions of said side wall portion of said base and said cover components.

4. A toy phonograph device as claimed in claim 1 in which said sound reproducing apparatus comprises a rigid diaphragm of shallow, inverted conical configuration and having said stylus component extending therethrough at the apex of said conical configuration in an attitude in which it is inclined slightly from the vertical upwardly and rearwardly with respect to the plane of a tangent at the point of contact of said stylus with a record groove and having regard for the direction of rotation of a record induced by said turntable.

5. A toy phonograph device as claimed in claim 1 in which the record supporting surface of said turntable is provided with a non-circular, centrally disposed projection effective to establish non-rotative engagement with a complementary hole in a record placed on said turntable surface.

6. A toy phonograph device as claimed in claim 2 in which said sound reproducing apparatus includes a rigid ring supporting a rigid diaphragm carrying a stylus at the center thereof and in which said ring includes means pivotally engaging said spindle for movement of said ring and diaphragm about a horizontal axis.

'7. In combination, a two-part casing comprising a bottom portion and a top portion releasably mounted thereon and a phonograph unit mounted on said bottom portion and covered by said top portion of said casing; said phonograph unit comprising a base component including a bottom wall portion and a circular side wall portion and a cover having interfitting engagement with said side wall portion and combining with said base portion and said side wall portion to dcne a housing, a rotatable, radially vaned impeller contained in said housing, bearing means carried by said base component and said cover on which `said impeller is mounted for rotation, an inlet port in said side wall disposed generally tangentially to the periphery of said impeller, mouthpiece means extending through a side wall of said casing bottom portion and communicating with said inlet port, an outlet port in said bottom wall adjacent to the path of travel of the periphery of said impeller, means in a bottom wall of said bottom portion of said casing forming a continuation of said outlet port, a record supporting turntable mounted for rotation on said base of said phonograph unit exteriorly of said circular side wall portion, driving means on said impeller engagable with said turntable, a sound reproducing apparatus including a stylus engagable with the groove of a record on said turntable, means mounting said sound reproducing apparatus on said phonograph unit for oscillation about vertical and horizontal axes, and means on said top portion of said casing yieldably engaging said sound reproducing apparatus effective to maintain said stylus in engagement with a record groove when said top portion of said casing is mounted on said bottom portion of said casing.

8. A toy phonograph as claimed in claim 7 in which said sound reproducing apparatus comprises a rigid diaphragm of shallow, inverted conical conguration and carrying said stylus extending therethrough at the apex of said conical configuration in an attitude in which it is inclined upwardly and rearwardly in a plane substantially tangential to the record groove with which the stylus is engaged and having regard for the direction of rotation of the record induced by said turntable.

9. A toy phonograph unit as claimed in claim 7 in which said turntable is provided with a non-circular central portion engagable with a complementary hole in the center of a record placed thereon with resultant establishment of a driving interengagement with the record.

l0. A toy phonograph unit as `claimed in claim 7 in which assembly of said cover on said base component simultaneously secures both said impeller and the Vertical axis portion of the mounting means for said sound reproducing apparatus in the respective bearing means therefor.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,414,802 5/1922 Burch 274--1.l 1,946,599 2/ 1934 Tichenor 274-39 2,063,578 12/1936 Berglund 274-l.1 X

HARRY N. HAROIAN, Primary Examiner.

LEONARD FORMAN, Examiner. 

